Early age of onset of drug use in Paraguayan children and adolescents: a public health challenge

Edad temprana de inicio de uso de drogas en niños y adolescentes paraguayos: un desafío de salud pública

Autores/as

  • Julio Torales Researcher and Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, School of Medical Sciences, Na-tional University of Asunción, San Lorenzo – Paraguay
  • Israel González Resident physician of Psychiatry, School of Medical Sciences, National University of Asunción, San Lorenzo – Paraguay
  • João Castaldelli-Maia Researcher and Professor, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo – Brazil
  • Marcela Waisman Researcher and Professor of Addictions, University of Salvador, Buenos Aires – Argentina
  • Antonio Ventriglio Researcher and Professor, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, Foggia – Italy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52379/mcs.v2i2.56

Resumen

La edad de inicio del consumo de drogas legales e ilegales es una variable crucial en el campo de la salud mental. Permite a clínicos y a investigadores de todo el mundo intentar predecir el riesgo vital de trastornos por uso de sustancias, enfermedad mental y adaptación social, y a diseñar estrategias de prevención e intervenciones precoces para hacer frente a estas entidades. El uso de drogas legales o ilegales durante la infancia y la adolescencia ha sido asociado a un vasto rango de malos resultados por distintos autores. El efecto del uso de sustancias al parecer incluye no sólo resultados relacionados con la salud, sino que posee también implicancias sociales negativas a largo plazo que afectan el sustento de los individuos. El inicio temprano del uso de drogas legales e ilegales es una epidemia social en Paraguay (Sudamérica). En este breve artículo, nuestro objetivo es presentar los pocos estudios realizados en el país que muestran una edad extremadamente temprana de inicio del consumo de drogas y proporcionar algunos argumentos sobre por qué estos datos deberían ser motivo de preocupación para los responsables de la formulación de políticas en el país.

Palabras clave: Edad de inicio; Uso de drogas; Niños; Adolescentes.

ABSTRACT

The age of onset of legal and illegal drugs use is a crucial variable in the mental health field. It enables clinicians and researchers across the world to try to predict the lifetime risk of substance use disorders, mental illness and social adaptation, and to tailor prevention strategies and early interventions to address these entities. The use of legal or illegal drugs during childhood and adolescence has been linked to a vast range of bad outcomes by different authors. The effect of substance use seems to include not only health-related issues, but it also has long-term negative social implications that affect the livelihood of the individuals. Early initiation of legal and illegal drug use is a social epidemic in Paraguay (South America). In this brief piece, we aim to present the few studies done in the country showing an extremely early age of onset of drug use and to provide some arguments for why this data should be of concern for policy makers in the country.

Keywords: Age of onset; Drug use; Children; Adolescents.

Descargas

Los datos de descargas todavía no están disponibles.

Citas

1. Observatorio Paraguayo de Drogas. Prevalencia de consumo de drogas, factores de riesgo y prevención en jóvenes escolarizados de 12 años y más. 1st ed. Asunción: SE-NAD; 2015. URL.
2. Riego-Meyer V, Arce-Ramírez A, Chávez ME, Recalde-Berni S, Fernández P. Estudio piloto sobre la prevalencia de patología dual en niños y adolescentes internados en la Unidad de Desintoxicación Programada del Centro Nacional de Control de Adicciones en Asunción, Paraguay. Rev Par Psiquiatr. 2013;1(1):24-31. URL.
3. Torales J, Riego V, Chávez E, Villalba J, Ruiz-Díaz C, Rodríguez H, Arce A. Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents admitted to a center for treatment of addictions. An. Fac. Cienc. Méd. (Asunción) 2014;47(2):33-40. URL.
4. Bray JW, Zarkin GA, Ringwalt C, Qi J. The relationship between marijuana initiation and dropping out of high school. Health Econ. 2000;9:9-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1050(200001)9:1<9::AID-HEC471>3.0.CO;2-Z
5. Townsend L, Flisher AJ, King G. A Systematic Review of the Relationship between High School Dropout and Substance Use. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev. 2007;10:295-317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-007-0023-7
6. Macleod J, Oakes R, Copello A, Crome I, Egger M, Hickman M et al. Psychological and social sequelae of cannabis and other illicit drug use by young people: a system-atic review of longitudinal, general population studies. The Lancet. 2004;363:1579-1588. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(04)16200-4
7. Silins E, Fergusson DM, Patton GC, Horwood LJ, Olsson CA, Hutchinson DM et al. Ado-lescent substance use and educational attainment: An integrative data analysis com-paring cannabis and alcohol from three Australasian cohorts. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015;156:90-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.08.034
8. Torales J, Villalba-Arias J, Ruiz-Díaz C, Chávez E, Riego V. The right to health in Para-guay. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2014;26:524-529. https://doi.org/10.3109/09540261.2014.926866
9. Cutler DM, Lleras-Muney A. Understanding differences in health behaviors by educa-tion. J Health Econ. 2010;29:1-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2009.10.003
10. Powers S, Flint S. Labor productivity growth in elementary and secondary school ser-vices: 1989–2012. Mon Labor Rev. 2016. https://doi.org/10.21916/mlr.2016.29
11. Ringel JS, Ellickson PL, Collins RL. High school drug use predicts job-related outcomes at age 29. Addict Behav. 2007;32:576-589. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.05.019
12. Danielsson A-K, Agardh E, Hemmingsson T, Allebeck P, Falkstedt D. Cannabis use in adolescence and risk of future disability pension: A 39-year longitudinal cohort study. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014;143:239-243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.07.038
13. Pedersen W. Cannabis and social welfare assistance: a longitudinal study: Cannabis and social welfare. Addiction. 2011;106:1636-1643. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03436.x
14. Juon H-S, Fothergill KE, Green KM, Doherty EE, Ensminger ME. Antecedents and con-sequences of marijuana use trajectories over the life course in an African American population. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2011;118:216-223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.03.027
15. Lynne-Landsman SD, Bradshaw CP, Ialongo NS. Testing a developmental cascade model of adolescent substance use trajectories and young adult adjustment. Dev Psy-chopathol. 2010;22:933-948. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579410000556
16. Patton GC, Coffey C, Lynskey MT, Reid S, Hemphill S, Carlin JB et al. Trajectories of adolescent alcohol and cannabis use into young adulthood. Addiction. 2007;102:607-615. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01728.x
17. Brook JS, Lee JY, Brown EN, Finch SJ, Brook DW. Developmental Trajectories of Mari-juana Use from Adolescence to Adulthood: Personality and Social Role Outcomes. Psychol Rep. 2011;108:339-357. https://doi.org/10.2466/10.18.PR0.108.2.339-357
18. Brook JS, Whiteman M, Finch SJ, Cohen P. Young Adult Drug Use and Delinquency: Childhood Antecedents and Adolescent Mediators. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychia-try. 1996;35:1584-1592. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199612000-00009
19. Slade EP, Stuart EA, Salkever DS, Karakus M, Green KM, Ialongo N. Impacts of age of onset of substance use disorders on risk of adult incarceration among disadvantaged urban youth: A propensity score matching approach. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2008;95:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2007.11.019
20. Merline A, Jager J, Schulenberg JE. Adolescent risk factors for adult alcohol use and abuse: stability and change of predictive value across early and middle adulthood. Addiction. 2008;103:84-99. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2008.02178.x
21. Zucker RA. Anticipating problem alcohol use developmentally from childhood into middle adulthood: what have we learned? Addiction. 2008;103:100-108. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2008.02179.x
22. Degenhardt L, O’Loughlin C, Swift W, Romaniuk H, Carlin J, Coffey C et al. The persis-tence of adolescent binge drinking into adulthood: findings from a 15-year prospec-tive cohort study. BMJ Open. 2013;3:e003015. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003015
23. Nkansah-Amankra S, Minelli M. “Gateway hypothesis” and early drug use: Additional findings from tracking a population-based sample of adolescents to adulthood. Prev Med Rep. 2016;4:134-141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2016.05.003
24. Hall W, Degenhardt L. Adverse health effects of non-medical cannabis use. The Lan-cet. 2009;374:1383-1391. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61037-0
25. Kaye S, McKetin R, Duflou J, Darke S. Methamphetamine and cardiovascular patholo-gy: a review of the evidence. Addiction. 2007;102:1204-1211. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2007.01874.x
26. Torales J, Girala N, Forestieri F, Garcete M. Salud Mental en el Paraguay: El infierno continúa. In: Coordinadora de Derechos Humanos del Paraguay, editor. Derechos Humanos En Paraguay 2007. Asunción: AGR Impresiones; 2007. p. 388-398.

Descargas

Publicado

02-08-2018

Número

Sección

Artículos Especiales

Artículos más leídos del mismo autor/a

1 2 3 4 > >>